Before I Wake by Rachel Vincent

About the book

Before I Wake is the sixth book in the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent. It was published by Mira Ink on 6^th July and the book is 384 pages long.

Plot

I died on a Thursday—killed by a monster intent on stealing my soul.

The good news? He didn’t get it.

The bad news? Turns out not even death will get you out of high school…

Covering up her own murder was one thing, but faking life is much harder than Kaylee Cavanaugh expected. After weeks spent “recovering,” she’s back in school, fighting to stay visible to the human world, struggling to fit in with her friends and planning time alone with her new reaper boyfriend.

But to earn her keep in the human world, Kaylee must reclaim stolen souls, and when her first assignment brings her face-to-face with an old foe, she knows the game has changed. Her immortal status won’t keep her safe. And this time Kaylee isn’t just gambling with her own life….

What I thought

Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers series is one of my favourite YA series and I always look forward to each instalment as so much happens. While this isn’t my favourite book in the series so far, it is high up there on the list.

So Kaylee is now dead although having to deal with having an afterlife. She’s trying to go back to school and she also has a new job in the afterlife and everything seems to be getting on top of her. I know her reasons for going back to school are explained, and really well, but I know that would be the last thing on my mind if I had recently died. At the same time, she’s really just trying to deal with how she feels about everything that has happened so far and that is a really tough thing for her.  

Thankfully, Kaylee has Tod on her side to help her out. Being a Reaper, Tod knows what it’s like to die and to have a job in the afterlife. He understands her and is always there for her when needed. I always loved Tod throughout this series and was hoping the day would come that he and Kaylee got together. I am so glad this finally happened in book 5 and I really enjoyed seeing their relationship develop in Before I Wake. While Tod is great for Kaylee, she still has ex-boyfriend and Tod’s brother Nash to deal with. The tension and upset between these three characters was fantastic to read about and the emotions were so well described.

The Soul Screamers series is coming to an end now so with this book being nearly the last one, I was expecting some major excitement. Rachel Vincent does not disappoint in this area either. Page after page, new twists and turns are thrown in and so much happens in this book. I was not expecting for most of the twists to happen and I loved the majority of them. There was one or two things that I would have maybe preferred to happen slightly differently but overall, the plot was a great one and very unexpected.

While most of the plot does revolve around Kaylee and her trying to get on with (kind of) life, new and old characters and intertwined into the plot. New guy Luca was really interesting and Sophie gets some more page time. I’m not Sophie’s biggest fan by a long shot but it was nice to see her get more involved with her family and not be such an outsider. I was glad to see Sabine and Emma have quite a big part in this story too as they’re both characters that I have absolutely loved so far. Sabine is still one of the best characters of the series for me and I love getting to know more about her.

As I said before, not my favourite in the series but still damn good!